PoliticsThe WeekJoe Biden just yanked away stimulus checks from 17 million Americans
During the campaign for the two Georgia Senate races, Joe Biden repeatedly promised to pass $2,000 stimulus checks if the Democrats won. After they did, the administration argued that $2,000 really meant $1,400 in addition to the $600 that had already gone out in the December rescue package. Whether that is true or not, now Biden is inarguably breaking his promise.
U.S.CBS News"QAnon Shaman" claims he wasn't attacking the country
Speaking for the first time from jail, the man known as the "QAnon Shaman" told 60 Minutes+ correspondent Laurie Segall he doesn't think his actions during the January 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol were an attack on the nation. Video allegedly showed Chansley on the Senate floor during the insurrection, bare-chested and wearing a fur helmet with horns.
WorldThe TelegraphNicola Sturgeon chokes back tears as she rejects 'absurd' claims she was out to destroy Alex Salmond
Nicola Sturgeon choked back tears and insisted "I would never have wanted to 'get' Alex Salmond" as she rejected as "absurd" his claims of a plot among senior SNP figures to destroy him. The First Minister told a Holyrood inquiry the "simple" truth was that several women made complaints about Mr Salmond's behaviour and "I refused to follow the usual pattern of allowing a powerful man to use his status and connections to get what he wants." In an appearance spanning more than eight hours, against the backdrop of calls for her resignation, Ms Sturgeon insisted she had seen "nothing that comes within a million miles" of backing Mr Salmond's conspiracy claims.
WorldBBCHardoi: India man arrested for beheading teenaged daughter
Police in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh have arrested a man suspected of beheading his daughter. Sarvesh Kumar was arrested as he walked towards a police station carrying the severed head of the 17-year-old girl. In a video shot by the police, he is heard saying that he was angered by his daughter's alleged affair with a man he did not like.
U.S.Associated PressSUV in crash where 13 died came through hole in border fence
The 13 people killed in one of the deadliest highway crashes involving migrants sneaking into the U.S. had entered California through a section of border fence with Mexico that was cut away, apparently by smugglers, immigration officials said Wednesday. Surveillance video showed a Ford Expedition and Chevrolet Suburban drive through the opening early Tuesday, said Gregory Bovino, the Border Patrol's El Centro sector chief. The Suburban carried 19 people, and it caught fire for unknown reasons on a nearby interstate after entering the U.S. All escaped the vehicle and were taken into custody by Border Patrol agents.
WorldAxiosInternational Criminal Court opens Israel-Palestine war crimes probe
International Criminal Court (ICC) prosecutor Fatou Bensouda on Wednesday announced her intention to open an investigation into crimes allegedly committed in the Palestinian territories since 2014. Why it matters: The investigation is expected to consider possible war crimes by Israel and Hamas during the 2014 war in Gaza, as well as the construction of West Bank settlements by Israel. It could sharply increase tensions between Israel, which fiercely opposes the probe, and Palestinian leaders, who requested it.
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Supreme Court appears ready to uphold Arizona election measures in Voting Rights Act case
The Supreme Court's conservative majority on Tuesday appeared ready to uphold election measures in Arizona that would require election officials to throw away provisional ballots cast in the wrong precinct, and limit who can collect absentee ballots for delivery to polling places. The justices heard arguments in the case as dozens of state legislatures consider changes to their election laws, including many that voting rights groups say could curb voter access. Ed O'Keefe reports.
WorldNBC NewsU.S. issues warning after Microsoft says China hacked its mail server program
The U.S. has issued an emergency warning after Microsoft said it caught China hacking into its mail and calendar server program, called Exchange. The perpetrator, Microsoft said in a blog post, is a hacker group that the company has "high confidence" is working for the Chinese government and spies primarily on American targets. The latest software update for Exchange blocks the hackers, prompting the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, or CISA, to issue a rare emergency directive that requires all government networks do so.
WorldArchitectural Digest9 of the Best Outdoor Rugs That Literally Ground Any Space
High-traffic areas are about to meet their match Originally Appeared on Architectural Digest
U.S.Miami HeraldThe FBI has arrested a white supremacist in Fort Lauderdale. Here’s the charge
The arrest of Paul Nicholas Miller by FBI agents at his Fort Lauderdale home Tuesday morning on a pedestrian charge of possession of a firearm by a convicted felon seems a minor thing for the feds to make a point of announcing. Until, that is, it's noted that the FBI's Joint Terrorism Task Force was part of the arresting team, along with FBI agents and Fort Lauderdale police officers. Also, the Anti-Defamation League considers Paul Miller “a volatile white supremacist-accelerationist.”
HealthAssociated PressCanada vaccine panel recommends 4 months between COVID doses
A national panel of vaccine experts in Canada recommended Wednesday that provinces extend the interval between the two doses of a COVID-19 shot to four months to quickly inoculate more people amid a shortage of doses in Canada. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau also expressed optimism that vaccination timelines could be sped up. The current protocol is an interval of three to four weeks between doses for the Pfizer, Moderna and AstraZeneca vaccines.
WorldReutersKremlin urges France and Germany to stop Ukraine conflict crossing 'dangerous line'
The Kremlin on Thursday urged France and Germany to use their influence with the Ukrainian government to make sure that events in the part of eastern Ukraine controlled by Russian-backed rebels did not "cross a dangerous line". Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters that Moscow was seriously concerned by a rise in violence on the contact line between the rebels and Ukrainian government forces. The separatists seized a swathe of eastern Ukraine in 2014, including the industrial cities of Donetsk and Luhansk.
U.S.Miami Herald‘The whole plane was just going crazy’: Watch family get kicked off flight over masks
On Sunday evening, a Frontier flight from Miami to New York was canceled after a confrontation right before takeoff, the airline confirmed to the Miami Herald. An Orthodox Jewish person spoke up in defense of the Hasidic couple.
BusinessNational ReviewThe Mother of All Stock-Market Bubbles
By Warren Buffett's criteria, current stock prices are their most overvalued at least since World War II. In the chart below, the ratio of stock-market value, represented by the Wilshire 5000 index of all public stocks, to GDP is over 25 percent above the previous all-time high, the peak of the NASDAQ stock market bubble in 2000, which is indexed as 100 in the chart. The seemingly relentless rise of the stock market coincides with central-bank balance sheets that have continued to balloon since the Great Financial Crisis. While the major central banks generally do not target stock-market levels directly, a goal of their policies has been to push financial markets towards riskier investments, which, of course, include stocks.
PoliticsThe IndependentFormer CIA chief says he is ‘increasingly embarrassed’ to be a white man
Former CIA boss John Brennan said on MSNBC that he's "increasingly embarrassed" to be a white man considering the actions he saw during CPAC. The topic being discussed on Monday was last weekend's Conservative Political Action Conference, its focus on "cancel culture" and the conspiratorial lens through which the Capitol riot on 6 January was handled. MSNBC anchor Nicole Wallace said that the Republican Party was hypocritical when claiming that they are the party of law enforcement after the events of 6 January, considering how some Republicans have been speaking about the event in its aftermath.
PoliticsFort Worth Star-TelegramWhy is Gov. Greg Abbott waiting a week to reopen Texas and lift mask mandate?
There is a week before Gov. Greg Abbott's order ending the mask mandate and capacity limits at businesses goes into effect. Why did Abbott pick March 10 as the date to roll back his previous COVID-19 orders? Abbott told Hasty he intended to announce the lifting of the state's mask mandate and business capacity limits on the last Monday in February.
ScienceThe TelegraphAsteroid holds water and organic matter essential for life, first ever sample shows
Water and organic matter found on the surface of an asteroid could explain how life formed on Earth, the first ever sample reveals. Researchers from Royal Holloway, University of London, analysed a single “grain” from the asteroid, known as 'Itokawa', and discovered it had evolved chemically over time. Their findings, published today in the journal Scientific Reports, reveal “complex details” of the asteroid's history and could help explain the evolution pathway of Earth, they said.
PoliticsThe Independent5,000 National Guard troops remain in DC amid QAnon frenzy that Trump will be inaugurated again this week
Nearly 5,000 National Guard troops are in Washington, DC this week for an inauguration that won't happen. According to Rep. Adam Smith, chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, this has led to online chatter about storming the Capitol a second time. “Some of these people have figured out that apparently 75 years ago, the president used to be inaugurated on 4 March,” Smith said during a hearing last month with Department of Defense officials.
CelebrityTheGrioMichelle Obama: Barack and I ‘can’t get a word in’ with Sasha, Malia
During a recent interview on Good Morning America with host Robin Roberts, former First Lady Michelle Obama opened up about how she and her husband, former President Barack Obama, have open communications with their two young-adult daughters. I always have wanted them to start practicing the power of their voices very early on,” Mrs. Obama shared of Sasha, 19, and Malia, 22. If you sit around the dinner table, me and Barack, we can't get a word in edgewise and we like it like that.
HealthNBC NewsTexas doctors respond to mask repeal: We have 'capacity' but not 'morale' for another surge
Some of Texas' top doctors warned Wednesday that Gov. Greg Abbott's sudden decision to ditch the mask mandate and lift coronavirus restrictions could result in a new surge of Covid-19 infections and deaths. And while they now have enough masks, ventilators and emergency room space to treat a new wave of patients, they say there is an acute shortage of staffers who aren't already stressed out and exhausted from battling the pandemic for more than a year. We have the capacity to take care of more patients,” Dr. James McDeavitt of the Baylor College of Medicine told NBC News.
PoliticsPoliticoFormer Trump appointees say they’re still waiting on their vacation payouts
A number of former Trump political appointees have still not received their lump-sum vacation payouts and required forms that are necessary to file for unemployment benefits as they face a tough job market in a Democratic Washington. While HR headaches are to be expected during a government transition, some former political appointees say they were not warned there would be significant delays. Political appointees who stay to the very end of an administration often face a gap between Jan. 20 and when they land their next job, given the time it takes to network, get job interviews and then get a formal offer.
PoliticsUSA TODAYLive stimulus updates: Senate no longer expected to begin debate on COVID-19 bill Wednesday
The Senate's consideration of President Joe Biden's $1.9 trillion COVID-19 bill has been pushed back a day, according to a senior Democratic aide speaking on condition of anonymity. The Senate had been set to take a procedural vote Wednesday to begin debate on the legislation, but the Senate was still waiting for the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office and the Congressional Joint Committee on Taxation to estimate the total cost of the Senate version of the bill, the aide said. The version of the bill passed by the House went billions of dollars over, so Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., would have to introduce a Senate version of the bill bringing it in line.
CelebrityTheGrioVanessa Bryant says Kobe, Gianna ‘motivate’ her, but pain is ‘unimaginable’
Vanessa Bryant, on the latest cover of PEOPLE Magazine, says that her pain is still “unimaginable” after the loss of her husband Kobe Bryant and her daughter Gianna Bryant, but that they still “motivate her.” It's been over a year since Kobe Bryant and his daughter Gianna, 13, tragically passed in a helicopter crash last Jan. 26. While the world publicly mourned the loss of an icon, Vanessa is opening up to the outlet about her terrible loss and how she has coped through the past year.
U.S.Business InsiderA wealthy Florida Keys community received vaccines before the rest of the state. A month later, one resident sent $250,000 to the governor.
Nearly every eligible resident of a gated community in the Florida Keys had received coronavirus vaccinations by mid-January as the rest of the state struggled to get doses, the Miami Herald reported. Ocean Reef Club in Key Largo had vaccinated nearly all of its 65-and-over residents, according to a January 22 email newsletter reviewed by the Herald. "We are fortunate to have received enough vaccines to ensure both the first and second for those vaccinated," the newsletter said, going on to acknowledge most of the state was in a very different situation.
U.S.INSIDERA lawyer for an accused Oath Keeper Capitol rioter says the group's 'quick reaction force' of weapon suppliers was actually just one guy
In February, federal prosecutors arrested several members of the Oath Keepers - an anti-government militia group - on charges related to participating in the riot at the Capitol on January 6. Prosecutors alleged that the Oath Keeper members had planned part of their attack. They wore tactical gear, held training sessions in the weeks before, and looked at then-President Donald Trump's direction for their assault on Congress, prosecutors laid out in court documents.
“Taking humans to Mars would require an investment astronomically out of kilter with the possible benefits.”
“Can a Mars settlement be a freer society than we enjoy on Earth? Maybe.”
“What we learn...may spark the next revolution that will make life in 2071 beyond anything we can imagine right now.”
“Our presence on Mars could jeopardize one of our main reasons for being there — the search for life.”
“The future of geologic investigation of other worlds lies with highly improved versions of our Mars rovers.”